


The Great Escape

by thewightknight



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Epic Plans, M/M, but still majored in sass, hux doesn't know it all, not so epic escapes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 03:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6687811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/pseuds/thewightknight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hux and Ren are captured by the Resistance, Hux comes up with a plan of escape.  It's going perfectly, but he made one major assumption, and you know what they say about assuming things, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Escape

“Kriffing hell, Ren, is it possible for you to not clump along like a giant oaf? The entire encampment is going to be breathing down our necks any minute now.”

“Don’t worry, Hux. They’re all asleep.”

“They won’t be for much longer if you don’t stop impersonating a bantha.”

The base where they were being held was remote and tiny. They’d been taken there after their capture, Hux supposed, because the Resistance wanted to keep their presence a secret. If word got out there’d be demands from the Republic for their extradition, trial and execution. Everyone would be happy to see him hang, he was sure, but General Organa wouldn't want her son to suffer such a fate, and if he was turned over Ren’s whereabouts might come into question. 

There’d been no torture so far, which shouldn’t be a surprise. There'd just been endless questions. These Resistance people were soft, useless, and their security had been a joke. He’d had an escape plan formulated in under a day, but had waited until something came up, causing most of the personnel to head off to whatever demanded their attention. It coincided with a night where two of the planet’s three moons were dark, so he’d decided it was time to made their move.

Movement caught his eye and he stopped, pressing himself back into the shadows. Ren ran into him, nearly knocking him over. He should have left Ren in their cell, he really should have. 

“It’s just a shadow from the tree over there. I’d have let you know if someone was coming.” He was even talking too loud.

Their options for escape included an x-wing, an old troop transport, and General Organa’s personal shuttle. Hux had ranked the x-wing as his last choice even though it was in the best shape of the three. The two of them probably would be able to squeeze into the cockpit together but being cooped up with Ren in a four meter square room for four days had been bad enough. Describing the troop transport as “old" was being kind. It was practically an antique. It might even predate the Rebellion by a few generations. The shuttle was their best chance, he’d decided. It sat by itself on the edge of the landing field. The light it sat under had gone out last night, Hux had seen from the slit that counted as a window in their cell. It would have the distance capacity they needed and its security protocols would probably be the lightest of the three vehicles. 

A cloud drifted across the one moon and plunged their target into shadow.

"Okay, let's make a run for it. Try not to trip on anything, will you?"

He didn't wait for Ren's response, sprinting across the open pad until he reached the shelter of the shuttle. The landing struts shielded them from the complex. Ren thundered up behind him, and before Hux could begin to try to bypass the control panel he reached around him and punched a code into the keypad. Hux started to protest, but it was cut off when the ramp dropped.

"How did you know what the code was?" he asked as they boarded.

"She always uses her lifeday and current age. My f ... Solo always bugged her about it."

They didn't have time for Ren to get maudlin. Hux shoved him towards the pilot chair. "Alright, get us out of here."

There was a pause, and then Ren shook his head.

"What do you mean, get us out of here? You're flying." Ren paused again. "Aren't you?"

"You're the pilot."

Ren shook his head. "No I'm not."

"You mean you don't know how to fly this thing?" Another headshake. "You might have mentioned this at any point while we were planning our escape."

"Well, you never once mentioned that you expected _me_ to be the one doing the flying. You're the hotshot Academy cadet, Hux. I thought they taught you everything, Mr. Head of the Class."

"We did simulations, yes." He scanned the controls, then pushed Ren out of the way, settling into the seat himself. "It can't be too different."

"Wait, you've never flown a shuttle for real?" 

“Wait, you never learned how to pilot from your hotshot uncle?” Hux mimicked Ren’s tone perfectly and Ren grimaced.

“I’m sure he knew that if he taught me I would have flown off the first chance I got.”

“Well, this is just perfect.” Hux snorted in annoyance as he stared at the controls.

“What do we do now? I’m sure Dameron’s around here somewhere. I can control him.”

“No, that will take too long. We’re already on borrowed time. Come on. We’ll figure it out.”

“Are you sure, Hux?”

"No, but I’m not waiting around here to find out what form my execution will take. You’re welcome to back to our cell, though. I’m sure that will please your mommy to no end."

Ren only hesitated a second before strapping himself into the copilot's seat, scanning the control panel. He pointed. "I think that one closes the ramp."

“You think? Can’t you just sense which control does which?”

“That’s not how the Force works, Hux.”

Ren flipped the switch before Hux could stop him. Thankfully he was right, and they heard the ramp begin to retract. The shuttle controls were close enough to the simulators he'd used that he could guess as to what most of the buttons and switches would do.

“Okay. Engines.” _I hope_ , Hux thought. “Here goes.”

If he’d been a religious man, Hux would have said a prayer of thanks as the shuttle coughed to life. And since that switch was for the engine, that meant the three switches beneath it had to be the thrusters. He flipped the center switch, which should be the forward thrusters, and swore as the shuttle lurched to the side, gouging huge furrows in the dirt as they slid off the landing pad.

“Damnit, Hux!” Ren swore.

“Well, if you think you can do any better, be my guest.” Okay, so the center switch was the lateral thrusters. That made no logical sense, but now he knew. So the one on the left should be forward then, right? He flipped it and the shuttle kicked backwards into a tree. 

“FUCK!” Ren screamed. “Forwards, Hux. We want to go forward.”

That left the switch on the right. “Who designed this thing?” he growled as they finally began moving in the right direction. Now where was up?

“Hux.”

“Yes, Ren, I know.” Oh, yes, the stick. He pulled back on it and they began to angle upwards, but it was stiff and their angle of ascent was shallower than he liked.

“Hux!” Ren was gripping the edge of the console, white knuckled.

“Oh, do shut up, Ren.” There was a scrape that echoed throughout the shuttle as they didn’t quite clear the wall that surrounded the landing field. At least the nav computer was standard. Hux programmed in their coordinates from memory and prepared to shake the dust of this backwater dirtball from his heels.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“General Organa, plan 'Let Your Clumsy Son and His Mass-Murdering Boyfriend Escape So We Can Track Them Back to the First Order’ appears to be hitting a snag.” The sensors they’d placed all around the landing field and in the shuttle were working perfectly, and Poe was trying not to laugh as they listened to Hux and Ren bicker, really he was, but he could feel the skin crinkling up around his eyes and besides who was he fooling. Leia could probably feel the amusement radiating off of him. At least he was doing better than Jessika. Jess had fallen out of her chair and was lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She was trying to muffle her chortles, knuckles stuffed into her mouth, but tears had begun leaking from the corners of her eyes.

Leia gave them both each a disgusted look. “Shush, you two. I don’t know how much longer I can make it seem like everyone is asleep, and you’re not helping.” She shook her head. “I thought Luke had taught him to pilot, I swear I did.” Poe caught the change in her tone, the sadness she tried to hide, and did his best to distract her from it.

“Do you really use that security code for everything?”

“No, Poe, that was a joke Han and I used to have. I never actually used it for anything.” The shuttle hadn’t been locked. They’d made it seem as if there was a short in the system that prevented it from doing so, but it seems that hadn’t been necessary. “I’m surprised Ben even remembered.” Well, as a distraction, that had sucked. Poe and Jessika shared a look, which she caught. 

“Oh, stop it, you too,” she scolded, and now they both looked guilty.

Poe tried again. 

“We should sell copies of this, though. It’s a comedy platinum mine.”

“No, Poe.”

“Aw, c’mon, General. You’re always saying we’re short of funds.”

“No, Poe. Especially not since it’ll give away the plan.”

“Oh, yes. THE PLAN.” Jessika made air quotes around the word and bit back another giggle.

A sensor bleeped and they all looked at the display.

“Well, it looks like they finally figured out how to jump to lightspeed, and they managed to not blow themselves up in the process,” Poe said, and Leia sighed in relief. “The recorders in the shuttle should transmit when they drop out of lightspeed. Do you want me to transcribe their conversation for you, or would you prefer to do it yourself?”

Leia shook her head. “No, I’ll trust you with that. Just fill me in on the important details, if there are any.”

“I’m on it.” Poe gave Leia a thumbs’ up, and she ruffled his hair fondly.

“Don’t stay up all night waiting for it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Poe and Jess replied in unison. 

As soon as she left, Jess sat up and whispered to Poe, “But we are playing this next holo night, right?”

“We want to go forward, Hux. FORWARD!” Poe imitated Ren’s voice.

“Do shut up, Ren!” Jess replied, mimicking Hux's clipped tones perfectly.

Poe winked and they fist-bumped, and they both started giggling again.

**Author's Note:**

> This all came about because one night in a chat with folks from the [Kylux Big Bang](http://kyluxbigbang.tumblr.com/), when [Clarice Chiara Sorcha ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/claricechiarasorcha)said she wanted a fic where Hux and Ren discovered they were each terrible pilots. So here it is! (Written long before we knew that in canon Kylo Ren is a crack pilot)
> 
> Feel free to come say hi over on [tumblr](http://thewightknight.tumblr.com/).


End file.
